The EPA is extending the deadline for major emitters of greenhouse gases to report them. The agency said it was moving the deadline, which was originally March 31, so that it would have more time to test its online data collection system. The move comes following intense lobbying from industry that has complained that the deadline was much too soon and House Republicans who view the agency's regulation of them as overreaching their authority. The Obama administration is moving forward with limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, manufacturers and other sources despite intense opposition from Republicans and industry groups. House Republicans are seeking a bill that would explicitly bar the agency from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. Last week the EPA released a study that argues the economic benefits of other Clean Air Act regulations...Read
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Casella Waste Systems (Rutland, VT) said it has completed the sale of 17 recycling facilities and a transfer station in its non-core operating markets to a newly established company, Re Community Holdings, LP (New York, NY) for $134.1 million. The new company, which will go by the name ReCommunity, was formed by investment firms Pegasus Capital Advisors LP and Intersection LLC in partnership with MissionPoint Capital Partners LLC, HarbourVest Partners LLC, and Ares Capital Corp. James Bohlig, a former senior vice president at Casella, will serve as ReCommunity's CEO. The transaction moves Casella further along its longer term goal of driving shareholder value by shedding non-core operations in favor of those where the company can vertically integrate its collection, processing and disposal functions by driving volumes through its own facilities. Similarly, in July last year, Casella sold its Cape Cod and Rochester Mass. transfer and hauling assets for $7.8 Million to a small private
company. In both cases, the company has used the proceeds to reduce debt...Read More »

EPA's recently released final rules regulating air toxics from combustion is drawing criticism from environmentalists and industry alike. Environmentalists argue that the definition of solid waste rule is so narrow as to leave the vast majority of small units with no emission controls at all. Industry argues that the legitimacy criteria, used to determine whether a material constitutes a waste that is subject to more stringent incinerator regulation, or a fuel that is subject to less stringent boiler regulation, is too vague to encourage conversion to energy of materials otherwise destined for the landfill...Read More »

WCA Waste Corp. (Houston, TX) reported a narrower fourth quarter loss on higher revenues helped by recent acquisitions, core pricing and rebounding volume. The company completed four tuck-in acquisitions in during the year, two of which were in the fourth quarter, representing $7 million in total annualized revenue. Revenue for the quarter rose 24.6% to $57.6 million from $46.2 million a year ago. That helped narrow its net loss to $611 thousand, or $0.03 per share, from $2.3 million, or $0.14 per share, last year. "We are very pleased by the strength of core solid waste pricing in the small container and municipal solid waste landfill markets as industry fundamentals stabilized in 2010," said Tom Fatjo, chairman and CEO of WCA Waste. "In 2011, we remain focused on leveraging our growth opportunities in all of our markets and will pursue tuck-in acquisitions around our landfills."...Read
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ECS Refining (Santa Clara, CA), an electronics and industrial waste processing company, has bought a 262,000-square-foot former auto parts plant in nearby Stockton where it plans to install a state-of-the-art recycling operation. Jim Taggart, CEO and founder of ECS Refining, said the new Stockton plant, which is four times the size of the company's current Santa Clara operation, provides the ability to deploy new processes and technologies that provide for cleaner and more recyclable commodity streams of material from the huge volume of e-waste the company currently processes. ECS began in 1980, managing scrap residues from Silicon Valley high-tech companies and has since expanded into recycling and end-of-life services suitable to a wider range of industrial and commercial customers across North America...Read More »

EPA and other agencies are seeking comment on how best to structure a national framework for recycling government electronics, the latest effort in a push for better end-of-life management of federal electronic waste (e-waste) that could eventually be used as a model for the private sector. In a Mar. 1 Federal Register notice, the Interagency Task Force on Electronics Stewardship, which includes EPA, calls for ways to encourage the creation of "greener electronics"; best practices for e-waste management; ways to increase electronics recycling and what infrastructure is needed; ways to track electronics prior to disposal; and the role of the private sector in the process. The task force, which is lead by EPA, the General Services Administration and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is accepting comments until Mar. 11 and plans to release a national framework May 16 that will instruct federal agencies on stewardship goals. The government has come under increasing
pressure for its electronics disposal practices amid information security concerns and because some e-waste is being exported to developing countries where it is causing environmental harm...Read More »

US aluminum producer Alcoa announced that it is investing $10 million for a 10% stake in Electronic Recyclers International. As part of the deal, Alcoa's vice president and chief sustainability officer, Kevin Anton, will join the board of ERI. ERI recovers large amounts of base, precious and minor metals from electronic waste at recycling centers across the US. Alcoa says that it expects increasing amounts of scrap aluminum to come from consumer electronics as more products enter the market and as consumers continue to demand lighter weight gadgets. Consequently, more available scrap aluminum will lower costs and allow the company to offer more of its patented Ecowise alloy products, which contain up to 25% recycled material. ERI, founded by John Shegerian, has grown rapidly in the US, developing six recycling centers across the country, handling over 120 million lbs of electronic waste annually...Read
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Radioactive and hazardous waste services company US Ecology Inc. (Boise, ID) posted fourth quarter profit that rose 71 percent on 67 percent higher revenue as a result of its recent acquisition of Stablex Canada Inc. and higher volume. Net income rose to $4.5 million, or $0.25 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31 from $2.6 million, or $0.15 per share a year ago. Revenue rose 67 percent to $39.5 million from $23.6 million. Its latest earnings results reflected $0.10 per share in business development costs including items related to the acquisition and $0.06 in foreign currency gains. Excluding those items, it would have earned $0.29 a share...Read More »